Video: Internet, Gadgets Make Corvette Even More Awesome

Within a few years, your car may become a hub of interconnected devices, media and online services.

And you thought it was for getting you around town.

I spent a little time recently in a tricked-out 2009 Corvette whose dashboard included some proof-of-concept technology to integrate the car with a smartphone, a tablet and the internet.

The console was created by QNX, the company that makes the operating system underlying GM’s OnStar systems, Toyota’s upcoming Entune and other vehicles. It’s similar to these systems, except it extends them by adding even more integration with the consumer devices you’re carrying.

In this car, the dashboard can interact with other devices in your car, such as your iPhone, a BlackBerry or RIM’s upcoming tablet — the BlackBerry PlayBook. It can play media from all of the above, or connect to the internet (by 3G) to stream music from Pandora.

Because QNX also makes the operating system underlying the PlayBook, there’s also a possibility that developers can create software for your car as easily as they can for the tablet, using HTML5, Java and other tools familiar to app developers.

I take a look in this video at some of the ways cars will soon gain even more sophisticated connectivity.